Murphy’s Liquors of Pawtucket

Holy Hell, I’ve never (ok, almost never) seen a sadder looking liquor store in all my days (and let’s be honest, I’ve made my way through more liquor stores than I feel comfortable sharing.)
The wine racks are filthy and are falling apart.
The selection is great if you have never seen or tasted wine before and have no working knowledge of the basics. (I’m no wine snob, but when Sutter Home and Barefoot are your *best* options, go elsewhere.)
Dark and super creepy. Scary locals.

This place was bought out by a young couple a few years ago. They have changed the entire layout of the place. They have an enormous wine selection. Their prices were just slightly more than the big warehouse liquor stores. Not bad if you need something and don’t feel like riding to North Attleboro. They have a decent selection of hard liquor as well as a good beer selection.

Great beer selection (though lots of the obscure craft beers aren’t in coolers) and GREAT prices. We generally drive right past the other LQ store down the street and right over to Murphy’s because it saves at least $ 3 – 4 every time, if not more. Family run by nice people. Very helpful and courteous. It can be a bit hectic in there because the place is popular, but you can’t have it all and having to wait an extra 3 minutes to check out is worth the $ you save.

Slightly a madhouse, slightly disorganized beer selection, slightly in an undesirable location, but hey, the prices are right.
The craft beer selection seems a bit hidden. The beer selection is weird as half of it is in coolers on one side of the store and half of the beer, mainly craft beer, is hidden in coolers on the very other side of the store. I was just happy they had a craft beer selection, but some of the case are dusty and possibly out of date or skunky so be careful. They do have bombers, which is a plus, and many are awesome craft selections. I purchased a bomber of a toasted brown ale from Slumbrew that was very good. They also have your typical macrobrews, liquor and wine.
The best part of Murphy’s was the prices, which were below average for RI craft beer prices, and the service. I felt that the staff were pretty attentive for such a disorganized store. They were also having to deal with some rude and outrageous people while we were in the store, and did so with finesse. Honestly, who talks on the phone while they are at the register?! I would have lost my cool if I was the cashier. I’m still on the fence whether I will return, just because there are quite a few other choices in the area, but it was good people watching and their selections and prices were decent. I would recommend for those who live in the area and are on a budget.

I’m not a big consumer of liquor by any means, but the combination of price and selection at Murphy’s hits the sweet spot better than any other liquor store conveniently accessible from the East Side of Providence.
One can certainly find significantly larger selection at liquor superstores in Warwick or Attleboro, and if you are looking for exotic wines or champagnes then you probably would be much happier at those places, but Murphy’s does have a surprisingly wide selection of certain items packed into a compact space. Murphy’s holds its own with sake, mead, and other less in-​demand beverages that small stores typically ignore because they are quite a lot smaller and quite a lot more expensive, and Murphy’s best competes as an alternative to those.
As a practical matter, if I’m buying a bottle of table wine to bring as a dinner guest or something of that sort, I’m more likely to buy it from Murphy’s than from anywhere else because of good prices and convenient location.

And they are open on Christmas!

I’ve passed by this place dozens of times and never stopped in because it looks super ghetto. After seeing the Unilocal reviews I figured that maybe it’d be worth a shot. You can’t always judge a book by its cover, after all. But sometimes you really can judge a book by its cover. This place is as ghetto as it looks.
While having dinner at Doherty’s we did a mental inventory of the beer fridge at home and realized we didn’t have enough to make it through a Bruins playoff game. I love a place with a good selection and Unilocal says that this place has it. I suppose, if you’re comparing Murphy’s to your average neighborhood liquor store then their selection is pretty decent. But this is no Chris Gasparo’s or Yankee Spirits. If you want selection then you need to go to one of the big guys. The selection here is simply above average.
The big issue with this place is that it’s dirty. Yes, that’s in part due to the trashy folks you get walking in and out. While we were there two girl size 26 girls wearing size 6 spandex waltzed in. At one point they simultaneously bent over causing layers of flab to cascade over their skimpy clothing. It was the stuff that nightmares are made of. But the customers aren’t the real issue. People watching in Pawtucket is actually one of my favorite hobbies. The problem is that the place itself is just plain dirty. There’s one spot with a crumpled up fleece on the floor that’s meant to capture water from the dripping roof. Every cooler was covered in grime. The whole place is just dingy. Not to mention, the layout is clumsy. The beer is in three completely different corners of the store.
Look, I get it. I don’t like my neighborhood liquor store either and I don’t give it a shitty score on Unilocal because I still go there on a regular basis. It’s in my neighborhood and it’s convenient. But let’s be honest here, this place is really ghetto. If I lived across the street then I’d get my beer there, but I wouldn’t like it. Since I don’t live in the area I sure as hell won’t be back.

Another reviewer was correct when they said that Murphy’s has everything. I live right now the street, but never made it in because they outside didn’t look very welcoming to me. Inside, there are a lot of products packed into a small space, but that’s what makes this store so cool. They really do have an impressively diverse selection. They even had Barritt’s Bermuda Ginger Beer (for the Dark ‘N’ Stormy) at a much better price that I’ve seen anywhere else in this city.
The staff was also quite friendly and helpful. Taking 1 star off just because it could be cleaner and more well organized.

Murphy’s is a shitshow of scary locals doing questionable things, usually while topless or barefoot. Otherwise, the liquor selection is good, if that’s what you came for. The wine selection is just okay. The abomination is the beer cooler. Murphy’s is a tight store, not very big but tons of merchandise so the beer display is lacking. Okay, so walk inside the cooler. Oh for the love of God, what a mess. Good luck finding a full six pack of the same kind of beer on the carton.
Murphy’s also likes to break down 12 packs and larger into do-​it-​themselves six packs with a plastic carrier around the necks of the bottles. It’s sketchy and the bottles clang together scarily. And prices are nowhere to be seen.
The people who own the store are nice, though. The beer situation made me walk right out of the store after searching for a full sixer in the cooler after 20 minutes (and yes, I’m a scary local).

I agree with most of the other reviewers! It’s a great medium sized liquor store in an awkward location! They have alot jam packed in but if you can’t find something, the friendly knowledgeable service is on the spot to help!

These people are truly nice almost to a fault. As someone else said they will do their best to special order. I wanted my Kriek Boon (Bout 7 $ a bottle) and they got it for me. In the neighborhood I can’t imagine expensive stuff selling well. They always put the customer first. Rudy and his wife are always there open till close trying to make there bussiness work while still keeping prices fair. Dont let the non descript exterior fool you. They have a great selection and if they don’t stock it ask. Rudy will do what he can to make the customer happy.

You will be presently surprised with this liquor store. The owners are very nice and knowledgeable. The store is packed with a variety of alcohol at great prices. I usually go to Yankee Spirits in Attleboro but I’ve been frequenting Murphy’s a lot more since the new ownership came. Check it out!

Addendum: The people who run this store are super nice. The last time I was in there, we had a conversation about good beer, and while they can’t import everything, and although good, more expensive items don’t sell as well in their location, they offered to custom order some special items for me and the next time I came in, they had it ready for me!